WWE NXT Roster Announced; Jericho, Christian & CM Punk Lead the Way

ECW is in the books and went out in style with an Extreme Rules match that resulted in Ezekiel Jackson winning the strap from Christian, but the highlight of the evening was the staggered announcements of who will be a part of the roster when WWE NXT begins on February 23 on ScyFy.

The show has been described as a “hybrid live event/reality show,” according to the official WWE website and will feature eight established superstars and their charges – a group of young and hungry up and comers from Florida Championship Wrestling, the breeding ground for WWE. The competition will pit the rookies against one another with the survivor receiving a WWE contract.

Here are the tandems, as announced on the final ECW televised broadcast:

Chris Jericho – Wade Barrett

Matt Hardy – Justin Grabel

MVP – Skip Sheffield

Carlito – Michael tarver

The Miz – Daniel Bryan

Christian – Heath Slater

CM Punk – Darren Young

R. Truth – David Otunga

The show has been called “The next evolution of the WWE” by Vince McMahon and it appears that the company will be exploring new ground by adding the reality element. The set-up sounds similar to the UFC’s “Ultimate Fighter” reality series, which has two teams of eight MMA fighters coached by pros and the final contestant receives a six-figure fight contract. By mixing elements of such a successful show with their own special form of sports entertainment, it will be interesting to see the outcome.

As far as the superstars themselves, the braintrust at Titan Tower strategically placed a few headliners such as Jericho and Punk and mixed in midcarders like Hardy and Truth. Two of the more intriguing names are The Miz and Christian. The former holds three current belts,as one half of the unified tag team champions with The Big Show and the US title. Christian was the longest reigning champion of any of the three brands before being pinned by Jackson.

One question that has not yet been asked or answered is if these eight superstars will be able to compete on Raw, Smackdown or Superstars.